Benjamin Waterhouse - Debussy: Elgar et l'Orgue (1999)

The early lives of Debussy and Elgar contain some intersting parallels. Born within five years of each other, they were both essantially self-taught; both rose to prominence in their late twenties thanks to popular compositions that reached a wide audience; and both composers came to be considered, within their lifetimes, as the musical embodiment of the spirit of their respective countries. They also share another point in common: an involvement with the world of organ music. The existence of transcriptions of both composers' works is indicative of an interesting aspect of turn-of-the-century organ performance: surviving programmes generally contain equal numbers of transcriptions and original works. Thus, for a few brief decades--but not for the first time in history--the boundaries of organ music stretched to include other genres.